Unlikely Siblings: Uncanny Similarities Between Israel And Pakistan

• Both homelands were created in the aftermath of World War II in response to collective anxieties and trauma, partly real and partly manufactured.

• Both relied on British colonialists to get the land that they sought, creating refugee and political crises in the process that have not been resolved to this day.

•Both appealed to the United States in the Cold War for aid, arguing that they are strong bulwarks against communism in sensitive regions in the world, the Middle East and Central Asia, and were given weapons, money, and training in return.

• Both illegally obtained nuclear weapons and have threatened to use them against others (Pakistan against India, Israel against Europe and nearby Muslim states).

• Both rely on a victim narrative to keep their populations from questioning the bankrupt policies of perpetual warfare against their neighbours (Hindus hate us Muslims because we’re Muslims; Muslims hate us Jews because we’re Jews).

• Both states adhere to a strict ideological narrative that is in conflict with geographic and demographic realities. Example: More Muslims live in India than Pakistan.

• Both sponsor terrorist groups in neighbouring countries (Pakistan supports the Taliban in Afghanistan and similar groups in India; Israel supports Al-Nusra and ISIS in Syria). The violent ideologies and terrorist movements that they’re incubating and protecting have caused the destruction of art and civilization in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

• Both are recipients of massive amounts of U.S. aid, but are not beneficial allies for the United States in the long term. Israel returns U.S. generosity with disrespect, and has not made any real attempt at peace with the Palestinians, which hurts the U.S. image in the Muslim world because it is not viewed as a honest broker. And apart from Pakistan’s strategic location in the war on terror, it is a hindrance more than anything else. It maintains a hostile relationship with India and Afghanistan, and a friendly one with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

• Both have a warm relationship with Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries who like to spend their oil money on spreading a very violent, racist, culturally backward, and xenophobic form of Islam around the world.

• Both are garrison states with shifting borders that constantly engage in wars over turf, the only difference being that Pakistan has lost land to Indians while Israel has gained land from Palestinians.

***This article was originally published by writer Saman Mohammadiat his blog The Excavator.

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